Remember when our girls had whooping cough? Bearhands and I slept on the floors in their bedrooms for a month, so we could rub their backs and offer them little sips of water during their terrifying coughing fits. Well, I just found a little note I wrote one night lying on a single mattress, unable to go back to sleep after the Little Sister had suffered a particularly nasty bout. I don't ...
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how to make fig paste
Australia is world-renowned for its Neighbours. Good neighbours become good friends - its a tune the whole world sings along too. Truth be told, living in Australia is considerably less dramatic than the TV show would have you believe. <SKIP TO THE RECIPE> I've been an Australian resident for 39 years now and I'm yet to be the subject of a car bombing, accidentally impregnated with someone ...
chargrilled corn salsa
Mum and Dad gave Bearhands and I a chest smoker for Christmas a few years ago. We're enjoying experimenting with different meats and smoking styles. Plus grass farmers love to joke about "smoking joints"! Our favourites so far are brisket, ribs and smoked salmon. Smoked meats always have a really rich flavour, so I try to serve them with a fresh, crunchy side. Pulled brisket and ...
5 easy swaps to make when you’re trying to be healthy
This blog post comes with a caveat. I'm not a nutritionist. I'm a food blogger who loves magnums but I did activate an almond back in 2014. Fool me once.... Lots of folks make new years resolutions, but that timing doesn't work for me. February - after school goes back and routine returns to the farm - is when I can focus on making changes. This year I'm consolidating on the success of my ...
can we talk about Australia Day?
The Big Sister has always been a patriot. At four her party trick was to sing the national anthem. By six she put the adults around her to shame by launching into the second stanza while they mumbled and took a sudden interest in the toes of their shoes. We're on a family holiday at the moment, cruising to Sydney to spend Australia Day in Sydney Harbour. I've been sheepish about ...
Are you an Aussie Food Expert? Take our Australian Food Quiz
How did your Australian Food knowledge stack up? True or False? Tim Tams were named after a horse. True. Tim Tams were named after the horse that won the Kentucky Derby in 1958. True or False? In the 1920s Vegemite was called Parwill True. For seven years during the 1920s Vegemite was rebranded "Parwill". In an attempt to outsell Marmite, Vegemite was renamed and marketed with the slogan ...
rich
We had some fantastic neighbours growing up. Their little family of four were already living in the house next door when we arrived at our acerage block in Manly West, Brisbane. Mr Williams was a small business owner and Mrs Williams was a nurse who'd turned stay at home mum after the birth of their daughters. Their girls were younger than us - the eldest daughter the same age as my youngest ...
christmas rum balls
So this is Christmas... OK. Not really. Christmas is still twelve days away but now is the perfect time to get ahead of the Christmas crazy and make rum balls. There's a few things to note about rum balls: it's only advantageous to make them in advance if you don't eat them all before 25 December. mixing weetbix and rum is a crime against Christmas cuisine. rum is an essential ...
the book launch
On Thursday night we gathered with friends and family to celebrate the launch of my cookbook. There were a few hiccups - including a 'Home Alone' style missing child who decided to play hide and seek in the corridor as we waited for the lift - but as far as I'm concerned the night was perfect*. It was wonderful to celebrate this monumental achievement surrounded by the folks who make our ...
you can’t sugar coat MS, an update
Last Tuesday I found myself sitting my neurologist's waiting room alone. In my horrible gastro haze I'd muddled my appointment time and arrived thirty minutes late. The receptionist made no attempt to constrain her extreme displeasure despite my profuse apologies. The kids had gastro the previous weekend and I'd come down with the super-duper immune compromised version on Sunday night. I'd ...
no cost, zero calorie Advent calendar
December 1. Time to start an Advent calendar. Last week I found myself standing in the supermarket staring at heat-affected chocolates that I don't want the kids to eat just before bed and I decided we were doing something different this year. This year I have decided to foist twenty-four of my favourite Children's books onto the kids, one night at a time. Yesterday morning I sent the kids ...
the only cookie recipe you’ll ever need
Anyone can be a good cook. The secret is being brave, experimenting and being willing to put the whole thing down to experience if it doesn't turn out. This cookie recipe is one of the cornerstones of baking. Now you have this basic recipe, the variations are only limited by your imagination. Cornflake cookies, jam drops, choc chip, ginger cookies; they all start with this recipe. It really ...
win my five favourite cookbooks
Pre-sales started last Friday and I am overwhelmed with your support - thank you! As a token of my gratitude I'm giving away a copy of each of my five of my favourite cookbooks. Country Women's Association Classics I bought this book for myself with the very first money I received for winning the pickles section of our local show. It's a hefty book - some 880+ pages, filled with CWA members' ...
pre-order the cookbook
I'm thrilled to announce that my cookbook (creatively named Cooker and a Looker) is being printed as we speak. I'm thrilled with how it's turned out: it's all my favourite recipes, bundled up in a irreverent, informative way. The books will be shipped in early December, so if you're looking for a gift for someone who loves to cook - this could be just the thing! I've written it to ...
no-bake strawberry cheesecake slice
Lots of things get lost in translation. Thongs for example. Here in Australia, they're something we wear on our feet. In the States they're something you wedge up your fannie. Which incidentally is not the same thing here in Australia either... Enough already Amanda! <skip to the recipe> I had an unfortunate "lost in translation" moment at a hairdresser when I lived in Japan. I wanted ...
mini strawberry shortcakes
It gets harder to make new friends as you get older. Mum tells me that as a kid I was very front-foot about making new mates. Perhaps it was because we moved around so much, I had zero qualms about approaching someone in the playground and saying "Hi I'm Amanda. Do you want to be my friend?" What I wouldn't give for that level of confidence now! that's enough of that Amanda, SKIP TO THE ...
10 of the best camping recipes
We're heading off on our annual September camping trip this weekend. I love the enforced slowness of camping. No rushing, time to sit, time to chat, time to experiment with new recipes. Of course the only way to get this time is to rush around like a mad woman meal planning and packing in the days previous, but that's a story for another day.... To assist with meal planning I've put ...
s’mores cones for camping
Much has been written about the traditional camping dessert s'mores. I'm yet to try a ridgy-didge version, because I haven't been able to find graham crackers here in Australia yet. This twist on the traditional - s'mores cones - is perfect for small people because it's easier to hold and less-mess. Camping with kids is all about mess, so if you can avoid sticky ant-attracting fingers in the ...
mum’s delicious chicken satays
Remember a time before food blogs, when the very best recipes were handwritten on the backs of envelopes and shared? When I asked my Mum if she would share her chicken satay recipe with you all, it arrived as this photo. I can picture the exact accordion file that it came from - a treasure trove of well-worn, favourite, hand-written recipes. skip to recipe The recipe makes 30 ...
same old story
Sometimes I find it hard to find the right balance when blogging about the mundane minutiae of life. My friend Beth calls posts like this “full and thorough reporting” and she does a cracker job of using words to illustrate her life’s goings on. I’m not finding an easy way to tell the same old story. I’ve sat staring at a blank page for a while now thinking about how the fact that I narrowly ...
broccoli pasta with pine nuts
Did you know broccoli has twice the amount of vitamin C as oranges? (Very handy this time of year.) Or that a 100g serving of broccoli provides 97% of an adult's daily vitamin K requirement? Which assists in the prevention of osteoporosis and aids heart health. (Who couldn't do with a little extra bone density?) Despite it's unpopularity, broccoli has always been a 'super food" and it ...
golden syrup pudding
This was the first recipe I ever had published. It appeared in a local paper the year before I started the blog. A school-friend was writing for the paper and asked for cooking-with-kids recipes to publish on the school holidays. I readily agreed. My photography was horrible, but the pudding was as delicious then as it is now! I love it because it's quick easy and (because you likely have all ...
chasing brumbies
I spoke to my brother Anthony this morning. He's performing in a show at the EKKA and I asked how it was going. He said he's enjoying it. The role he's playing is fun "and I get to chase brumbies and do the things I like." He asked what I was up to and I told him the final files for the cookbook are due to the printer on Friday. He remarked that it must be exciting and I told him that it's ...
seven tips for cooking for the bereaved
My brother David and his co-pilot Tomas died on 9 September 2011. David was 29 years old. I like to write about David. It feels good when I say his name aloud. Sometimes I wonder if my friends think I talk about him too often, but honestly, I have a hundred thoughts of him for every one I orate. When Kerrie from the Ground Swell Project approached me and asked me to curate a ...
one perfect day | the Berkeley River Lodge
Ever had a perfect day? One that makes all the others pale in significance? One that trumps the day your kids were born? Not because you're any more happy, but because the day passes and no one gets stitches? I had that one perfect day last Friday at the Berkeley River Lodge and I'm still smiling at the thought. On our way to breakfast we spotted this beautiful stick insect. If I ...
our anniversary trip to the Berkeley River Lodge
Bearhands and I had been looking forward to this trip since January. We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary on the 27th and given our history of celebrating anniversaries, we wanted to make this one special. I'd read about the Berkeley River Lodge in the Qantas magazine a few years ago, so when a ridiculously cheap deal came up on Luxury Escapes I nabbed it, then kept it a secret ...
you can’t sugar coat MS | house arrest day 21
I needed a little lift yesterday. I haven't been sleeping very well - I suspect some of the anti-viral medicine I'm taking doesn't agree with me. I wake up in the middle of the night, heart pounding, head sweaty having another nightmare. I also have a constant low level headache. And while it's not excruitating, it just enough to make everything feel like a chore. This week has been ...
how to make sherbet
It's week two of the great house-arrest school holidays of 2017. To add an additional level of difficulty to the situation the farm paddocks were covered in a thick layer of chook poo on Friday, so the whole place is so stinky the kids don't want to play outside (and I can't really blame them). Desperate times, my friends. Desperate times and desperate measures. Yesterday, the troops ...
what’s for dinner meal planner printables
My kids are a complete mystery to me. Every school morning I pack their lunches. Every school afternoon they arrive home with laden lunchboxes and tell me they weren't hungry or didn't have time to eat them. Yet, on the school holidays it's all I can do to keep the food up to them. They're voracious and I spend my days in the kitchen desperately trying to keep up to my two little Audreys ...
how to make sizzler cheese toast at home
There's been a lot of talk about Sizzler closing it's restaurants, but fear not, I've discovered how to make their delicious cheese toast at home! The good news is, it's super simple and you can have it ready faster that you can say "all you can eat salad bar". how to make sizzler cheese toast at home Ingredients: thick-sliced bread butter grated parmesan cheese powdered parmesan ...
you can’t sugar coat MS | house arrest day 7
This time last week I was finishing my final day of treatment. My heart rate had reached olympic athlete levels again, prior to the infusion, but I'd managed to nurse it through with a combination of caffeine, sugar and sheer terror of a repeat performance of last year. I almost cried tears of relief as I watched the last five millilitres flow through the drip, then Mum and I snuck into the ...
Amanda and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days
I’m starting my second course of treatment this morning. I spent much of last week begrudgingly preparing for spending this time away from the farm shopping and writing lists for my wonderful in-laws who have arrived like the cavalry again to help Bearhands with the girls while I’m in Brisbane. Then yesterday I waved goodbye to my three favourite humans and came to stay at Mum and ...
what not to say to someone living with MS
Today is World MS Day; a day to draw awareness to the condition that affects 23,000+ Australians (and 2.5 million people worldwide). There is no cure (this year at least). Three quarters of the folks living with MS are women. The majority of whom experienced their first symptoms between 30 and 35. I've been living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) publicly for a year and privately for a bit a ...
a blog by any other name ….
I was a blogger long before I became Cooker and a Looker. For years previous, I wrote a little family blog - the Glasshouse Smyths. At that point, Bearhands and I had brothers and sisters spread across the globe so I started the blog to keep them updated about how life on the farm was going and how the Big Sister was growing. Back then, email and internet will still slow and precious ...
necessity is the mother of invention (aka how to make your own snake bag)
I was not in the mood to wrangle a snake this morning. The stitches are still in my hand. The site has become infected, one of the many downsides to being immune compromised. So instead of removing them yesterday, the doctor wrote me a script for an antibiotic and strict instructions to be vigilant about it worsening. Bearhands is away for the weekend, so the girls and I had a slow start to ...
how to make guacamole
Avocados are temperamental beasts aren't they? One minute they're rock hard, then in the time it takes to type 'how to make guacamole' into google they've passed their prime. We forgive them though because they're 1) delicious, 2) a great source of oleic aside, which has been shown to help increase our absorption of fat soluble nutrients and lower the risk of heart disease, and 3) ...
the swiss cheese principle + a recipe for hand chips
David and I studied risk management at the same time. He was studying risk as part of his aviation degree, me from a mining risk management approach. The principles were the same, accidents boil down to the failure of not one, but several layers of protection. The Aviation Industry call it "the Swiss Cheese Model" which is far more tasty than the boring mining equivalent. Imagine slices of ...
at least he died doing what he loved.
“At least he died doing what he loved…..” After David died well-meaning folks offered these words as comfort. I was not comforted. I'd stopped listening after “At least he died.” My brother was dead. There was no softening the blow with platitudes about the manner in which he was taken from us. Those words still irk me now. I picked up the newspaper at the airport this morning, bright ...
how to make damper
We're not heading away for Easter this year. There's a bit too much going on around the farm to leave, so we'll be spending the weekend here. I'm not too disappointed, sometimes on the weekends I look up and realise the farm is a beautiful spot to be when you're not working! We'll put the tinny in the creek this afternoon and try our luck with a few crab pots. Many of our friends are ...
dark chocolate and ginger cheesecake
Oh goodness gracious friends! Big news here on the farm! Guess who has two thumbs and lightning fast internet? A post shared by Amanda Smyth (@cookerandalooker) on Apr 11, 2017 at 6:21pm PDT THIS GIRL!!! We've been operating on 3Mbps since the line was installed twelve years ago. Recently it was announced that the NBN would not reach farm until July 2020. So I investigated ...